Method of tufting a pile fabric



y 1966 I H. F NOWICKI 3,249,078

METHOD OF TUFTING A FILE FABRIC Filed April 12, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR HENRY F. NOWICKI y 3, 1965 I H. F. NOWICKI 3,249,078

METHOD OF TUFTING A FILE FABRIC Filed April 12, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2671 9? Q12 WM hhgiiulhhh hinlihhh 67a 43 aA1rklll'llllllli'lllllllllllllliillllill 6 v v v Q I u v u v v v umull/111M111 sOJH'H'iPHIHI'IHfiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii L sgAT-illilk{!iilill$flllllllllllllllllllll |Il- -5 INVENTOR HENRY F.NOWICKI May 3, 1966 H. F. NOWICKI 3,249,078

7 METHOD OF TUFTING A FILE FABRIC Filed April 12, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 5A3 i'iiiiii 4'5 iiiiiii a$h f 53w? 0 M L LI/A/A 4 /4 IA {A (A 4L ti i I[A {A A (A [A {A 11 5 an 53 5 53 5 5s 5 53 53* m m a, m, FIG.|4 m 53.4 mFIGJG INVENTOR HENRY F. NOWICKI United States Patent 3,249,078 METHOD OFTWTING A PILE FABRI Henry F. Nowiclri, Norristown, Pa., assignor toJames Lees and Company, Bridgeport, Pa., a corporation of Delaware FiledApr. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 272,648 Claims. (Cl. 112-266) This inventionrelates to methods and apparatus for producing pattern tufted pilefabrics and more particularly to apparatus for producing Wilton effecttufted floor coverings.

It will be understood that, in the tufting of pile fabric andparticularly carpets, a series of needles are positioned in a needle barand carry the pile yarns through a backing fabric which is advanced overa throat, oscillating loopers positioned underneath the throat engagethe pile yarns and the loopers may be positioned to provide cut pile oruncut pile as may be desired.

With the widespread use of tufting machines in the carpet industrywhich, because of their vastly higher speeds are replacing much of theconventional weaving equipment and particularly the Axrninster loom, ithas become increasingly important to improve tufting machines from thestandpoint of their ability to produce patterned goods. The term patternas used hereafter broadly includes variations in color as well as pileheight and refers to any non-uniform appearance of the pile surface. Thejacquard on a Wilton loom, for example, has the ability of calling upany selected pile yarn from the ground so that the selected end worksover" one or more pile wires thereby becoming visible in the face of thefabric. In this way, the designer achieves a desired figure or patterndue to different colors and/ or pile height. The height of the pileprojections in the Wilton loom is dependent upon the height of the pilewires and the judicious selection of different colors working overdifferent wires is utilized to produce the over all appearance. A Wiltonloom is limited in the number of different yarn ends that can beselected. Ordinarily speakin g five frames (sets of similarly coloredpile yarns) is the maximum, although some looms have been known to go ashigh as seven frames. In an Axminster loom on the other hand, the numberof differently colored yarns is relatively unlimited since these may bewound on the spools in accordance with any pattern. Both Wilton andAxminster weaving are slow as compared to the operation of a tuftingmachine which, in todays practice, produces fabric at the rate of 500 to600 stitches per minute.

Pattern devices for tufting machines which enable different pile heightsto be achieved in accordance with a pattern are of many varieties,examples are shown in Nix Patent 2,875,714 and Crawford Patent2,853,033. The latter is at present a preferred type because it providesless down time, more positive yarn feed, individual end control, etc.Other devices for achieving various pattern effects in tufting machinesare wave line attachments, such as shown in Manning Patent 2,855,879,and means for shifting the needle bar such as shown in Bryant et al.Patent 3,026,830.

It has been found in accordance with the present invention, that for thefirst time it is possible to produce a tufted pile fabric having theappearance of a woven Wilton carpet. This is achieved when a bar typepattern attachment such as that shown in the Crawford patent above iscombined with a shifting needle bar constructed in accordance with thedevice described in Batty and Broadrick application Serial Number 98,580filed March 27, 1961, now US. Patent 3,109,395. Not only is it possibleto transfer certain yarns from row to row and from area to area, but inaccordance with the present "ice invention it is possible to concealyarns in any particular row 1n such a way that solid non-geometricalareas of one color appear on the face of the fabric. In the case of thesimple shifting needle bar as described in the Batty et al. patent, itwas primarily the purpose to break up streaks or stripes which areprevalent in tufted goods by shifting the yarns from row to row. Whenthe step shifts of the needle bar are properly coordinated with ajudicious selection of high and low pile as controlled by the Grawfordbar type attachment, it was unexpectedly appreciated that a whole newvista of design possibilities could be realized.

A primary object of the present invention, therefore, 15 to produce on atufting machine a pile fabric resembling a Wilton.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tufting machine havingboth a shifting needle bar and a pattern attachment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tufting machine havinga shifting needle bar and an individual end control pattern attachment.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved methodfor producing concealed pile areas in Eetatively random portions of thesurface of a tufted pile a IIC.

A still further object of the invention is to correlate the action of ashifting needle bar with the pattern attachrnent in a pile fabrictufting machine.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings inwhich FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through a multi needletufting machine equipped with a bar type pattern attachment,

FIG. 2 is a schematic View showing the shifting needle bar as installedon the machine of FIG. 1,

FIGS. 3, 5, and 7 are schematic views of the needle bar, patternattachment bars, and loopers of a tufting machine constructed inaccordance with FIG. 1,

FIGS. 4, 6, and 8 are transverse sections of a portion of the fabricproduced respectively by the apparatus of FIGS. 3, 5, and 7,

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic top view of a series of rows of pileprojections such as shown in FIGS. 4, 6, and 8,

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing an individual pattern bar carryingsix pile yarn ends, the needles through which the ends are threaded andthe loopers for the needles,

FIG. 11 is a sectional detail of a fabric as would be tufted with theyarns controlled as shown in FIG. 10,

FIGS. 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26 are views similar to FIG. 10with the needle bar shifted into various transverse positions and with adiffering series of pattern bars utilized to control the yarn feed andconsequently the pile height,

FIGS. 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25', and 27 are diagrammatic sections ofthe pile loops produced by the apparatus shown respectively in FIGS. 12,14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26,

FIG. 28 is a schematic top view showing the combined fabric which isproduced by the various steps shown in FIGS. 10-26,

The invention comprises essentially the combination in a multi-needlecarpet tufting machine of means for controlling the individual yarn endsand means for transferring the various yarn ends thus controlled fromrow to row. This expedient may be utilized to produce random high andlow pile areas as well as random areas dominated by a single color eventhough all of a series of differently colored yarns are present over theentire surface of the fabric.

Referring now to the drawings, the conventional tufting machinecomprises an upper housing 40 having a crankshaft 41 and a series ofconnecting rods 42 which serve to oscillate the needle bar 43- in avertical direction through eccentrics 44 and sliding shafts 45. Apresser foot 46 is mounted on the lower part of housing 40 by means ofbolts 47, 47 and brackets 48. A backing fabric F is fed across thethroat 56 of the tufting machine from a pin feed roll 51 to a pin takeup roll 52. A series of loopers 53 mounted on brackets 54, 54 areclamped to the 'looper rockshaft 55 by means of bolts 56, 56. The fabricF feeds over the bed 57 of the tutfing machine which is supported onlegs 58, 58. All of the above described apparatus is conventional in amulti-needle tufting machine and is believed unnecessary to illustratemore than one set of needles, loopers, etc.

The present invention is directed specifically to the manner of feedingand controlling the pile yarn ends Y both as to amount of yarn fed andas to the position in which the yarns are inserted through the backingfabric F. A yarn feed control device such as shown in the Crawfordpatent above comprises an endless chain 60 carrying a series of uniformheight bars or slats 61, 61 around sprackets 62, 62 driven in timedrelationship to the actuation of the needle bar. The upper or patternchain 63 carried over sprockets 64, 65, and 66 is likewise driven intimed relation to sprockets 62 and the needle bar. Pattern chain 63 isprovided with a series of notched or profiled pattern bars 67, 67 whichintermesh with the bars 61 so that they pass through a yarn feeding zoneindicated generally at 70. When high portions of the bars 67 engagecertain yarns more yarn is fed than when low portions on the bars 67engage the yarns so that the height of the loops is determined by theamount of yarn feed to the needles to form any particular loop all inaccordance with the well-known pattern control functions. As the yarnpasses from the feeding zone 70 it is carried through a stationary yarnguide 71 and an oscillating yarn guide or jerker 72.

In order to shift the individual yarn ends from row to row in thebacking fabric F, I utilize a needle bar 43 which is mounted in slottedblocks 75 and 76 as shown in FIG. 2. A link 77 is pivotally connected tothe needle bar 43 at 78 and is oscillated backwards and forwards througha pattern mechanism of the type shown in the Batty et al. applicationwhich is incorporated herein for the purpose of completing thedisclosure of the shifting needle bar mechanism. The needle bar 43 isprovided with a plurality, in some cases as many as 1500, pile yarnneedles 80, 80 all of which penetrate the backing fabric F to a uniformdistance. Each needle 80, regardless of the shift position, is engagedwith one of the loopers 53 underneath the fabric and the shift of theneedle bar occurs in equal increments which are equivalent to thetransverse space between loopers 80, 80.

Referring now to FIGURES 3-8, a plurality of yarns Y is shown undercontrol of one of the bars 67a of the pattern mechanism. It will beunderstood that a typical bar is illustrated to show the control of thevarious individual ends in actual practice. The net result of thecontrol effected by the pattern mechanism is accomplished by a pluralityof bars in the intermeshing zone 70. The yarns Y after passing over thehigh portions 67b and the low portions 670 of the bar 67a are carriedthrough the needles 80 in the needle bar 43. After passing through thefabric F, each needle is engaged by one of the loopers 53 carried on thelooper rockshaft 55. In the showing of FIGURE 3, yarn Y1 is engaged bylooper 53a, yarn Y2 is engaged by looper 53b, and so on across themachine. Since yarn Y1 is controlled by a high portion on the patternbar 67a, more yarn is supplied to the needle 80a than is the case withyarn Y2 so that a high loop L1 is formed in the fabric. On the otherhand yarn Y2 is controlled by a lower portion or notch in bar 67a sothat a low loop L2 is formed. In the showing of FIGURE 3, the high loopsL1, L1 in the bracket 83 are of contrasting color with the low loops L2,L2 in the bracket 84, and

they may be the same or a different color from the group of high loopsin the bracket 85 as well as the low loops bracketed at 86. The highloops bracketed at 87 are preferably of a contrasting color to highloops in brackets 83 and 85. Also, the low loops L2 in bracket 84 may beof the same but are preferably a contrasting color to the high loopsbracketed at 87 and the low loops bracketed at 88. All of the low loopsin the showing of FIGURE 4 are concealed by their adjacent high loopsregardless of their color so that the face appearance of the fabricexhibits contrasting colors for high loop areas 83, 85, and 87.

In the art of designing tufted pile fabrics, it is very important to 'beable to select or shift the colors appearing in any given row of yarns.As explained above, this feature can be readily accomplished on aconventional Wilton loom equipped with a jacquard. The present inventionenables a comparable result to be achieved so that, viewing the fabricwarpwise or longitudinally, there is an apparent color change in thesame longitudinal row. FIGURE 5 shows a basic or simplified manner inwhich this color change is accomplished with a combined use of a pileheight control attachment and a shifting needle bar. The needle bar 43in FIGURE 5 is shifted to the left so that yarn Y1 is now in engagementwith the looper 53c and yarn Y2 is engaged by looper 53a. Since theloopers do not shift, they are indicative of the longitudinal rows orstiches of loops which are produced in the fabric. Since yarn Y1 iscontrolled by a high portion 67b of the pattern bar 67a it now forms ahigh loop in the row of stitches in alignment with looper 530 so thatall of the high loops in the area 89 are now moved into adjacent rowsand the low loops in the area 90 are moved into adjacent alternate rows.This of course has the effect of changing the color in each of theserows. The same applies to the contrasting areas of high loops indicatedat 91, 92, and contrasting areas of low loops bracketed at 93 and 94.

In FIGURE 7 the needle bar 43 is shifted an additional increment to theleft so that yarn Y1 is now engaged by looper 53d, yarn Y2 by 530, andso on across, thus again shifting the yarns of different colors from onerow of stitches to another. FIGURE 8 shows the various high loop areasof FIGURES 4 and 6 shifted one additional row to the left. The patternbar or bars 67a shown in FIGURES 3, 5, and 7 additionally illustratewhat occurs if two adjacent yarns are both controlled by a high or lowportion on the bar 67a. Two yarns Y3 and Y4 are controlled by a doublehigh portion 67d and likewise two other yarns Y5 and Y6 are controlledby a double low portion 67e. This variation has the effect ofsubstituting a low loop for a high loop when the shift is made and alsosubstituting a contrasting high loop for a preceding high loop in thesame row. Conversely in the case of portion 67e, the change going fromright to left substitutes a low loop for a high loop and a contrastinglow loop for a preceding loW loop.

The change in appearance of the completed fabric will be apparent froman examination of FIGURE 9 which shows schematically the color areas 95in one series of the loops terminating in stepped relationship to eachother longitudinally of the fabric. The contrasting color area 96 canthus be controlled not only to appear and disappear longitudinally ofthe fabric by reason of the provision of high and low loops, but it canbe transferred transversely of the fabric to provide random areas ofdifferent colors.

The above description incorporates some of the basic or simpler featuresof the present invention where the shift is in increments of one row ata time and the change in pile height is from low to high, therebyaffording substantially complete concealment of the low loops. Entirelynew design possibilities are available when the pattern bars areprovided with multi-height notches used with a shifting needle bar thatmay be actuated transversely in increments ranging up to as many asseven or more rows.

The pattern bar 67s in FIGURE is shown as having three sets of yarncontrol areas. The yarns Y5 and Y6 being fed over the high areas toprovide maximum height loops, the yarns Y7 and Y8 being fed over the lowareas to provide minimum height loops and the yarns Y9 and Y10 being fedover intermediate height areas on the pattern bar 67s to provide anintermediate height loop which may be only partially concealed by thehigh pile. With the yarns YS-Y10 controlled as shown in FIGURE 10, yarnY5 is engaged by looper 53c, yarn Y7 by looper 53f, yarn Y9 by looper53g, Y6 by looper 53h, Y8 by 531', and Y10 by 53 The fabric producedwith the control of FIGURE 10 is shown schematically in FIGURE 11 inwhich yarns Y5 and Y6 form the high loops L15 and L16 respectively.Yarns Y7 and Y8 form the low loops L17, L18 and yarns Y9, Y10 form theintermediate loops L19 and L20. It will be noted that the intermediateloops L19 and L20 are only partially concealed by the high loops L15 andL16 and this effect is shown more clearly by inspection of FIGURES 29and 30.

In FIGURE 12 the needle bar 43 is shifted to the right so that yarn Y5is now engaged by looper 53 and each of the other yarns Y7, Y9, Y6, Y8,Y10 is engaged by the loopers 53g, 53k, 532, 53 and 53k respectively. Inaddition, on this shift a different pattern bar 671 is advanced tocontrol the yarns so that yarn Y5 still forms a high loop L21 but inlooper row 53f, yarns Y7 and Y9 now form intermediate loops L22 and L23in looper rows 53g and 53h. Yarn Y6 which is of the same color as yarnY5 forms high loops L24 whereas yarns Y8 and Y10 now form intermediateloops L25 and L26. This results in a partially concealed groundcomprising intermediate loops L22, L25, and L26 and it will beunderstood that a series of similar pattern bars 672 may be used tosupply any desired longitudinal area of a particular character.

A further variation in fabric appearance is shown in FIGURES l4 and 15in which the needle bar 43 is shifted one more increment to the right sothat yarn Y5 is now in looper row 53g, Y7 in 53k and so forth. In thiscase the pattern bar 67:: is provided with alternating high and lowportions. The high portions control pairs of yarns and the low portionscontrol single yarn ends. This gives a fabric area shown in FIGURE 15 inwhich high loops L27 and L28 are of the same color and high loops L29and L30 are of contrasting color. The low loops L31 and L32 arecompletely concealed.

An additional shift of the needle bar 43 which may take place with adifferent bar 671 or any one of the other wires is shown in FIGURE 16.In this case yarn Y5 is now shifted to register with looper 5312 and theother yarns correspondingly shifted. The configuration of pattern bar67v provides for an intermediate height loop L33 in looper row 53h tohigh loops L34 and L35 of the same color now appearing in rows 531' and531. Intermediate loop L36 is of the same color as loop L33 and theseyarns are the ones which also form loops L27, L28, L21, L24, L15, andL16. The low loops L37 and L38 in FIGURE 17 are completely concealed andit will be noted that yarn Y9 continues to form a low loop as it did inthe showing of FIGURE 15. However, the low concealed loops formed byyarn Y9 are now in different portions of the fabric.

In FIGURE 18 the needle bar 43 has been shifted back to the left oneincrement so that the needle alignment is the same as that shown inFIGURE 14, however, a different pattern bar 67w is now utilized tocontrol the yarns so that in the same rows of FIGURE 15 we now have alow loop L39 which conceals yarn Y5. The high loops L40 and L41 areagain transferred to looper rows 53h and 53k so that they continue asshown in FIGURE 15. Yarns Y9 and Y10 are now elevated to joinintermediate height loops L42 and L43 whereas yarn Y6 is now concealedbecause it is formed into a low loop L44.

In FIGURE 20 the needle bar shifts back a further in crement to the leftso that the alignment of the needles and loopers is now the same as thatshown in FIGURE 12 in which yarn Y5 is engaged by looper 53 However,comparing FIGURES 21 and 13 it will be seen that yarn Y5 now formsintermediate loops L45 in looper row 53 instead of the high loop L21.Yarn Y7 in looper row 53g is now a high loop L46 instead of theintermediate loop L22. Yarns Y8, Y9, and Y10 also form high loops L47and L48 whereas yarn Y6 is now an intermediate loop L49 instead of thehigh loop L24 in FIGURE 13. The pattern bar 67x is comparable to patternbar 67;: except that the lower pile areas call for intermediate heightloops instead of low loops.

In FIGURE 22 the needle bar 43 is shifted one more increment to the leftso that it is in the same position as shown in FIGURE 10. A yarn controlbar 67s is now used in which there are successive steps of low,intermediate, and high controlling individual yarns. This forms a lowloop L50 for yarn Y5, an intermediate loop L51 for yarn Y7, and highloop L52 for yarn Y9. This sequence is repeated to form a low loop L53for yarn Y6, intermediate loop L54 for yarn Y8, and a high loop L55 foryarn Y10. It will be noted that the pattern bar 67s appearing in FIGURESl0 and 22 is cut in the same manner in each case but has been offset onenotch so that the same bar may be utilized to control the same yarns butdifferently in relation to the loopers. This is an example of theendless design possibilities that may be accomplished with the judicioususe of pattern bars and shifting control for the needle bar.

FIGURE 24 shows the needle bar 43 shifted one more increment to the leftfrom the initial position of FIGURE 10. Yarn Y5 is now engaged by looper53n, yarn Y7 by looper 53e, etc. All of the yarns, however, arecontrolled by an intermediate height portion in pattern bar 673 so thatin this area each yarn forms intermediate loops as shown in FIGURE 25all of the same height. In FIGURE 26 the needle bar shifts one furtherincre ment to the left in which yarn Y5 is now engaged with looper 530,Y7 with 5312, and so forth. This pattern bar 672, however, produces anintermediate loop L57 with yarn Y5, a low loop L58 which is visible oronly partially concealed with yarn Y7, intermediate loops L59, L60 andL61 with yarns Y9, Y6 and Y10 and a low loop L62 with yarn Y8.

It will thus be understood that the pattern bars as introduced into theyarn controlling area are so designed that within the height limits ofthe bar any loop can be produced in any individual yarn end. While thepattern bars do not physically shift, the cutting or configuration ofthe bars as they advance into the yarn controlling zone can be arrangedso that the effect of the yarn control is the same as if the bars didshift. This is illustrated in FIGURES l0 and 22. In addition, it is nowpossible to plant any yarn end in an adjacent row of stitches and alsowithin the limits of the needle bar shift, any yarn end could be plantedin any desired row. A tufting machine capable of producing a multi-colorpile fabric with the ability to control the appearance of the face yarnssimilar to a loom is a result that has long been desired in the tuftedpile fabric industry. For the first time it is now possible to control arandom or nongeometrical area in a tufted fabric with regard to thecolor or type of yarn.

FIGURE 28 illustrates schematically this effect from the standpoint ofthe appearance of the fabn'c.. FIG- URE 28 shows a transverse repeat rowby row of the yarn formations of FIGURES ll, l3, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25,and 27.

The pile height control utilized in the present invention may beproduced by inserting all of the pile projections to a uniform depth andthen reducing the height of selected projections so that thenon-selected projections conceal either totally or partially the reducedheight projections. This reduction in height may be accomplished by whatis known as a loop robbing operation in which the height of a preceedingloop is reduced or backdrawn or which may be produced by pulling backfrom the pile yarn from the loop or loops currently being formed by theneedles. Naturally a combination of the two methods may also beemployed.

It will thus be understood that I have provided for the first time atufted pile fabric suitable for floor covering and the like which can becontrolled by the designer to exhibit non-geometrical single ormulti-colored areas similar to those only capable of being produced on aWilton loom with a jacquard. More specifically, the skillful designercan now produce a tufted fabric having random or nongeometricaldifferently colored areas by means of the precise control of each pileprojection as to its location and height. Other attempts to accomplishthe same or similar results have proved to be impractical orunsuccessful from the standpoint of cost, maintenance, or speed ofoperation.

Having thus described my invention 1 claim:

1. In the tufting of Wilton effect pile fabric for use as floorcoverings and the like utilizing a plurality of spaced, reciprocable,laterally shiftable needles, a plurality of aligned laterally immovableloopers, and a back ing member moving between said needles and saidloopers, the method of inserting a plurality of colored pile yarnscarried by said needles through the back-ing material to producelongitudinal linear rows of pile projections on the opposite side of thebacking material, simultaneously advancing the backing material in alongitudinal linear path while shifting the points of pile insertion bylaterally shifting the needles a distance substantially equal to thedistance between at least two loopers and transversely across thedirection of feed of the backing material in accordance with apredetermined pattern while varying the yarn feed to the backingmaterial to control the relative height of inserted pile projectionswhereby selected lower pile projections are concealed by selected higherpile projections in a non-geometrical area.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the pile yarn insertions are shiftedtransversely from row to row to produce alternate high and low pile in asingle longitudinal line of stitches and alternately colored yarns in asingle longitudinal line of stitches.

3. In the tufting of Wilton effect pile fabric for use as floorcoverings and the like utilizing a plurality of spaced, reciprocable,laterally shiftable needles, a plurality of aligned laterally immovableloopers, and a backing member moving between said needles and saidloopers, the method of inserting a plurality of colored pile yarnscarried by said needles through the backing material to producelongitudinal linear rows of pile projections on the opposite side of thebacking material, simul taneously advancing the backing material in alongitudinal linear path while transferring all of the pile yarnstransversely across the direction of feed of the backing material fromone row to an adjoining row during the advancing of the backing materialby laterally shifting the needles a distance equal to the distancebetween two loopers, simultaneously concealing selected pile yarnprojections in one multi-row area by controlling the height ofsaidprojections and concealing other 8 selected pile yarn projections ina different multi-row area.

4. The method of claim 3 in which the concealed pile yarns in the firstarea are of contrasting colors to the concealed pile yarns in the secondarea.

5. The method of claim 3 in which the areas are nongeometrical inoutline.

6. The method of claim 3 in which the pile yarns in one of the areas arepartially concealed.

7. In the tufting of Wilton efliect pile fabric for use as floorcoverings and the like utilizing a plurality of spaced, reciprocable,laterally shiftable needles, a plurality of aligned laterally immovableloopers, and a backing member moving between said needles andsaidloopers, the method of inserting a plurality of colored pile yarnscarried by said needles through the backing material to producelongitudinal and transverse linear rows of pile projections on theopposite side of the backing material, simultaneously advancing thebacking material in a longitudinal linear path, simultaneouslytransferring all of the pile yarns transversely across the backingfabric from one longitudinal linear row to an adjoining longitudinallinear row by shifting the needles a distance substantially equal to thedistance between two loopers, and simultaneously adjusting the height ofselected pile projections during said transfer to conceal certain of thepile yarns in selected multi-row areas whereby each linear row of pileprojections contain a plurality of separate pile yarns of varyingheights.

8. In the tufting of pile fabric in which a series of pile yarns isinserted simultaneously through a moving sheet to form pile projectionson the opposite side thereof, the improvement which comprises the stepsof continuously advancing the backing sheet in a straight line over aseries of laterally immovable loopers arranged at right angles to thepath of the backing sheet travel, inserting a series of pile yarnsthrough the backing sheet in line with said loopers/engaging the yarnswith said loopers to form longitudinal linear rows of pile projectionson one side of the backing sheet, shifting the yarns laterally duringthe travel of the backing sheet to engage adjacent loopers on asubsequent yarn inserting cycle and simultaneously varying the yarn feedto the backing material to reduce the height of selected pileprojections thereby producing both high and low pile projections fromdifferent yarns in the same longitudinal linear row in the backingsheet.

9. The method of claim 8 in which the lateral shifting of the yarns fromrow to row is elfected in consecutive insertions.

10. The method of claim 8 including the steps of controlling the heightof a series of yarns of a first color to reduce the pile projections ofsaid series and thereby conceal said first series beneath the pileprojections of a second series of yarns of a different color.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,679,218 5/1954Jones 112-79 2,766,506 10/1956 Rice.

2,853,033 9/ 1958 Crawford 112-79.6 2,855,879 10/1958 Manning et a11-1279 3,026,830 3/ 1962 Bryant et al. 11279 3,100,465 8/1963 Broadrick11279 3,109,395 11/1963 Batty et a1 11279 JORDAN FRANKLIN, PrimaryExaminer.

1. IN THE TUFTING OF WILTON EFFECT PILE FABRIC FOR USE AS FLOORCOVERINGS AND THE LIKE UTILIZING A PLURALITY OF SPACED, RECIPROCABLE,LATERALLY SHIFTABLE NEEDLES, A PLURALITY OF ALIGNED LATERALLY IMMOVABLELOOPERS, AND A BACKING MEMBER MOVING BETWEEN SAID NEEDLES AND SAIDLOOPERS, THE METHOD OF INSERTING A PLURALITY OF COLORED PILE YARNSCARRIED BY SAID NEEDLES THROUGH THE BACKING MATERIAL TO PRODUCELONGITUDINAL LINEAR ROWS OF PILE PROJECTIONS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THEBACKING MATERIAL, SIMULTANEOUSLY ADVANCING THE BACKING MATERIAL IN ALONGITUDINAL LINEAR PATH WHILE SHIFTING THE POINTS OF PILE INSERTION BYLATERALLY SHIFTING THE NEEDLES A DISTANCE SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THEDISTANCE BETWEEN AT LEAST TWO LOOPERS AND TRANSVERSELY ACROSS THEDIRECTION OF FEED OF THE BACKING MATERIAL IN ACCORDANCE WITH APREDETERMINED PATTERN WHILE VARYING THE YARN FEED TO THE BACKINGMATERIAL TO CONTROL THE RELATIVE HEIGHT OF INSERTED PILE PROJECTIONSWHEREBY SELECTED LOWER PILE PROJECTIONS ARE CONCEALED BY SELECTED HIGHERPILE PROJECTIONS IN A NON-GEOMETRICAL AREA.